12.12.17

Electricity
generation in the country has reached an all-time 7,000 megawatts while
transmission stands at 5,155 megawatts, Minister of Power, Works and
Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said.
At the opening of the 22nd power sector stakeholders meeting held at
the premises of Geregu Power Plc, Kogi State yesterday, Fashola said the
statistics implied that 2,000 MW was stranded and must be evacuated for
use as more power will be generated in 2018.
Fashola said most of the challenges inhibiting power generation had
tackled. The minister noted that January to March 2017 was a challenging
period characterized by insufficient gas supply and disruptions in the
systems in the Niger Delta.

Fashola who said the story had changed cited the government’s
approval of N701 billion power purchase guarantee funds which made it
possible for the generation companies to pay gas suppliers.
The minister also noted that in 2016, only one turbine was running
because there was no gas supply to Geregu 1 owned by Amperion and Geregu
2 being managed by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC).
But, according to him, the three turbines are now running because there is gas.
“The new problem is that the turbines are being managed not to run in
full capacity because there is no enough demand at the distribution end
to take all the power. What we now have as a country is that our power
production has reached an all time high at over 7,000 MW. This is not
where we were in January. It means our policies and programmes are
working,” he said.